I was surprised to find these tracks in my in-box. They’re quite the weekend treat. As you might imagine I spend a fair amount of time scouring the web for new music and I haven’t heard a peep from the Independiente label since DeeJay Punk-Roc’s ’98 release of Chicken Eye. Obviously I’m not listening closely enough. They’re Travis’ UK label. OK, so I’ve got some catching up to do. And besides the occasional David Holmes or Diplo track she sings on, I haven’t spent quality time with Ms. Topley-Bird. That’s gonna change too. Today. String theorists searching for other dimensions just may find what they’re looking for if they’d get strung out on some MTB. Topley-Bird’s voice carries me to other worlds, worlds I first discovered listening to Tricky’s Maxinquaye where she played the beautifully haunting foil to his gravelly trip-hop hero. Topley-Bird herself is off on her own inter-genre exploration with co-pilot/producer Dangermouse. Whether it’s the dusty after hours slow-mo of “Valentine,” the playfully seductive “Carnies,” or this bumpin’ club remix of “Poison” Martina Topley Bird’s buttery-rich voice easily lilts your soul enough to keep you just on this side of an out of body experience.
Old Man Luedecke
Fast talking, fast picking (on the banjo) Old Man Luedecke’s just telling stories on these snappy new tracks from his third and latest album, Proof of Love. Although Old Man doesn’t really look that old, his narrative style and attention to detail and tradition certainly reflect a degree of maturity and experience. In general, though, it’s the toe-tapping familiarity of these songs that make then all warm and shiny. I can see Luedecke twanging his banjo around a Canadian campfire, telling tales just like people do.
Someone Still Loves You Boris Yeltsin
Hey, I’m only a week late on the new Someone Still Loves You Boris Yeltsin. Their last record was my favorite-album-that-took-me-a-year-to-listen-to. The CD kept getting shuffled to the bottom of my ‘listen to’ stack. Their name haunted me. I just couldn’t let go of a band called SSLYBY. To this day I still throw up a little in my mouth when I think of how much joy I missed by not having SSLYBY in my life sooner. From what I’ve heard, album number two from the Show Me State’s favorite indie sons, keeps the charming pop meter cranked up to eleven. Nothing groundbreaking except to say that their sophomore album is anything but sophomoric. New album and new tour NOW.
Think I Wanna Die [MP3, 3.9MB, 192kbps]
We Were The States
Murfreesboro, Tennessee’s We Were The States have taken their childhood influences, dozens of them from 70’s punk to 90’s indie rock and beyond, thrown them into the blender of their collective spirit, and come out with a version of post-punk/garage-punk rock that’s original and entirely their own. Brash, energetic, and no-fuss, their songs must make for a heckuva live show. Their debut LP Believe the Thieves is out now.
Eerie
Eerie is one man, Eric Obo, who splits his time between Sweden and St. Helier, Jersey in England’s Channel Islands, who’s gathered his friends to create an intimate recording. His self-titled EP, offered here in its entirety courtesy of the generous Komakino label, is what I like to call whispercore at its finest. It opens with a straight forward acoustic track, a country-western Elliott Smith type thing, with just a hint of distortion swelling in late in the song. “In the Twinkle of an Eye” is about as upbeat as you can expect from Eerie, and equally as noisy. Which isn’t much. Obo’s languid vocals linger below sliding chords and gauzy guitars. Here his voice takes on a new wave air which adds an interesting dimension to the track. At the bridge he slows the pace and turns up the distortion. Coupled with this heat wave we’re experiencing out here in lower California Eerie has loosened my bones and I find myself melting into my chair…Ladies and gentlemen we’re slowly diving into space…
Kassin+2
My opinion on and knowledge of Brazilian music and film are about the same: I like what I see and hear, but I can’t claim to have heard a whole lot. Although I will say that if you haven’t seen City of God you haven’t truly lived. That’s only a little bit exaggerated. I like what I heard of this Kassin+2 as well. Apparently they’re a pretty big deal on their home soil, and this record is a big deal for how, gasp, accessible it is. Yep, “Ya Ya Ya” is probably one of the more edgy tracks on the album—most of the rest plays out with the bossa nova warmth you might expect from the various members of the Gilberto clan. If they can get experimental with the same gusto that they get smooth, they’ll be spending plenty of time on my iPod as the weather gets warmer and the days get longer.
The Mary Onettes Head to USA + MP3
Rae Davis
I so need this right now. Lately my brain has been swelling at the seams as I work through my first year of teaching (in the face of pending budget cuts that may very well force me into retirement decades too soon), grading (English teachers do too much), and, the really hard part: snowboarding, skateboarding, biking, legoing, and birthday-partying with my kids. Just as I’m about to lie down to sleep (quick usage lesson) I came across this chilly gem. How chill is it you ask? As chill as a stay-cold pillow my friend Mitch talks about developing. I’m gonna cozy up to these beats and deep, bone-shaking bass plucks, and pass out. Like this photo of Mr. Davis himself. You’re about to be schooled in the ways of quality downtempo and quality down time courtesy of this up and coming Texan.
The Whigs
I swear I must have llistened to “Right Hand on My Heart” a hundred times since I pulled it off the SXSW website a few weeks ago. The full-on power rock of Athens, GA’s The Whigs is pure excitement, from the driving, droning guitars to the tight drumming, and then the bass kicks in, whoo wee. This is a great ride to be on, with a band that clearly has their skills and history down. Best song I’ve posted in 2008? Without a doubt.
The Lovely Sparrows
They’re on Abandoned Love records and of the song “Chemicals “Change” they say ” It’s been well noted by many music journalists that this was a break up record. Roger that.” So you can probably guess where on the lyrical spectrum that The Lovely Sparrows fall. But as with Okay from last week (I seem to have a mini-fetish with acoustic guitar right now), the story about this music is much more than the lost love and disappointment expressed in the words. Shawn Jones has a mildly forceful vocal range with a hint of Texas drawl, like a mixture of Eef Barzelay and Edie Brickell. There’s some Modest Mouse in there too, or at least what Isaac Brock might have become if he’d been raised in the Hill Country instead of the rainy Northwest. The Lovely Sparrows undoubtedly do their hometown of Austin proud in live performance because these two tracks, for all their polish and shine, sound like they would fill you with the joy of Jones’s despair in concert. And indeed, that’s what you’ll find on tracks recorded for the excellent Daytrotter Sessions.